Category: Letters To The Editor

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Tennessee Suing Obama Administration Over Transgender School Guidance” …

I’m just surprised that Wisconsin is part of the Confederacy supporting “states rights” this time around. The rest of them could be taken en bloc from the old South from 150 years ago.

Thoughtful

Thoughtful, Wisconsin is not a surprise since Scott Walker and the crazies took over a few years back.

DatGuy

I wish I was in the land of Wisconsin, old times there are not forgotten. Look away, look away, look away. … Oh, wait. Nevermind.

Cheddar

About the Flyer editorial, “Silver Lining” …

Believe me, I’m in the “Save the Greensward” camp. Overton Park should be preserved and enhanced and parking on the grass adjacent to the zoo parking lot (which is an eyesore in the first place) should not occur. The zoo and its board are just greedy for the money parking makes available for efforts that I consider inhumane (to the captive animals).

That said, I have neither seen nor heard anything in response to my suggestion, I’ll suggest it again: When there are more cars than parking spaces in the existing lot, rather than the zoo  taking over the Greensward, why not direct the overflow to the Center City shopping center and have them park in a designated area and have a small bus to shuttle patrons to and from the front gate of the zoo? The parking there is free, but if a small fee were charged for riding the shuttle the “loss” in revenue could be recouped. Seems reasonable to me.

Cheryl M. Dare

About Richard Cohen’s Viewpoint, “Support Trump and Be Mocked by History” …

I’m not a Trump supporter, but I get sick of seeing the left try to talk about Trump’s “lack of qualifications” after supporting Obama’s Presidential run in 2008. If you could get behind him and Obama’s lack of resume in 2008, you can’t really talk about Trump’s lack of qualifications.

The current political system (both right and left) have helped to create this monster. All of the focus has supposedly been on the middle class lately, yet no one in the government from either side is doing anything for the middle class. It’s on minorities or on homosexuals or the trans-gendered. The working class has it even worse. The working class gets nothing.

If you’re a white, working-class person in middle America, this government isn’t for you and hasn’t cared about you in a long time. They’ve been relaxing immigration laws to allow more cheap labor in to squeeze your labor market. They’ve been making it easier and easier for corporations to move manufacturing jobs overseas, essentially exporting your job market. And on top of all that, the few social issues you care about get almost zero attention.

All of that has finally boiled over. It’s created Trump on the right and Sanders on the left. The people who have been ignored are rising up and creating a movement. The point being, if you don’t like the Trump movement, maybe you shouldn’t have ignored a wide swath of the population for so many years. You can’t just keep crapping on working-class white America and not think that the people will eventually lash out.

GroveReb84

Trump is a saint compared to the morally corrupt, lawless, criminal Democratic administrations — Clinton, Obama, Lynch, Holder, etc. Finally, they are going to learn they are no longer above the law.

FlyingTiger

The Trump campaign really shows what white Republican Americans are all about. They don’t care about morals and never have. They don’t care about racism and never have. They don’t care about America and never have. They say they are upset about government aid such as welfare, food stamps, Medicare, etc, yet it’s the corporations that receive most of the free aid. Trump is an example of what they really are: lying, cheating, women-hating, and bigoted.

Kevin Jones

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Black and White and Read All Over” …

[The Commercial Appeal‘s story] was a good read. Even at the turn of the 20th century, readers were complaining about the violence, murder, and mayhem in the paper. But then this has always been a bawdy, violent river town.

If the CA focused on investigative reporting while balancing its coverage with the good and the bad, it would be a thriving metropolitan daily. I firmly believe that the CA can stabilize and thrive within the Memphis MSA.

J.R. Golden

When I lived in Middle Tennessee, The Tennessean was the standard for anybody who followed Tennessee politics. Broadly, the economic model of print journalism is in decline. It truly is a shame, because there is so much benefit it brings to society.

Papers create a public space. In many ways, local papers are like the town square, where debates of the day on current topics of interest take place. That’s why I think the comment sections of local papers are so important, and why I stopped my CA subscription when they went with their Facebook requirement. The primary value of my local paper to me is as a source for a curated discussion of things that might interest the local citizen. I am willing to pay for that, even if a new form of payment is necessary to keep the papers going. But I absolutely refuse to surrender my personal metadata to the Facebook abomination.

OakTree

The Tennessean is awful. It is nowhere near the entity it once was. The CA is better at this point than The Tennessean. That said, I cancelled my subscription about two weeks ago to the CA. I was a 25-year subscriber, but I got tired of not receiving the paper in the morning and the customer service refusing to have it re-delivered.

Packrat

About the Flyer editorial, “Memphis Zoo Study Provokes Controversy” …

The economic impact of the Memphis Zoo seems to be wildly overstated. The lack of empirical data and the multitude of assumptions leave the results of the study questionable. The tens of millions of tax dollars poured into the zoo have resulted in a shortage of dollars for other projects which would benefit Memphians. The zoo must begin to show a profit. If that is not possible given the current management structure, new managers are required. We must not continue to fund year after year deficits to the detriment of every other park program.

Enrico Dagastino

The zoo makes roughly $17 million in revenue. Suggesting that it has a multiplicative effect as it works through the Memphis economy is pretty standard in economic impact assessments. Questions about the amount of that multiplier we can leave to economists to argue over. Suggesting that it brings in additional business not seen in zoo revenues, since it is Memphis’ No. 1 tourist attraction, should be expected. Are we to believe everyone comes to the zoo, then goes and never does anything else?

DatGuy

The great majority of the out-of-Memphis visitors to the zoo come from West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and Arkansas. They come to the zoo, buy McDonald’s for the kids, leave the wrappers on the Greensward where they park, and return home from the zoo with exhausted children.

The zoo needs to produce its surveys, which are the raw data for this study. Who did they survey? How did they survey? When did they survey? It is high time that the taxpayers of this city stopped subsidizing the zoo to the tune of around $4,000,000 a year. That money would go a long way to funding a fire and police pension and to fixing our city parks for the benefit of our children and our citizens.

Memphis Tigers

About a visit to Memphis …

Last week I had the pleasure of travelling to Memphis from Ottawa, Canada. I went to Graceland, the Bass Pro Pyramid, BBQ festival, and several restaurants.

What my Google search failed to disclose was the polite, kind, and terrific people I would meet along the way. Without exception, everyone in the service industry was fantastic. Memphis police and several others stood out as being well above what I expected.

Great job. I will certainly return.

Paul Gagnon, Ottawa Ontario

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Steve Steffens’ Viewpoint “Tear Down the Shelby County Democratic Party and Start Over” …

The current party is a bunch of jackals fighting over the scraps left over after the Republicans have torn the state apart. They have no desire to do their own hunting.

Jeff

About Kevin Lipe’s Beyond the Arc post, “Dave Joerger out as Grizzlies Head Coach” …

While I was initially shocked by this decision, after reading all the “behind the scenes” stuff, I agree with it. I’ve always thought coaching changes set back franchises, but obviously we had a coach who wanted no part of our team. He’d been here nearly 10 years. Thanks, Dave. It’s time to move on.

Midtown Mark

The shedding of tears was also a shot at front office, “Oh, woe is me, it was so hard, all the injuries, they traded Jeff Green, they traded Courtney, then had a carousel of D leaguers… and, oh yeah, they picked Jordan Adams instead of Rodney Hood ….”

It was a shot at front office, and I’m not saying he was totally wrong on everything, but that’s what it was.

His remarks the next day were actually in line with all his prior behavior, including the tear fest. He was thankful for his players, but had disdain for front office since his sponsor Jason Levien left.

Juce

About Frank Murtaugh’s From My Seat post, “Preferred Playoffs: Hockey” …

I am a hockey fan, not the best place to live for that. The Predators are having a good run. I am a Leafs fan. So that is the same as saying, ‘Hey, I am delusional,’ but I grew up in Ontario, so that is my excuse. The playoffs in the NHL are called hockey’s second season for a reason. Often all bets are off. Guys who bag it during the season suddenly come alive. Sometimes the big guns go silent. Always love watching.

Paula Langley

On J.D. Reager’s Local Beat column, “A New Booker in Town” …

Here’s hoping that he’s successful at broadening the mix of performers to appeal to a wider audience. And to appeal to folks truly interested in hearing good live music, not just in drinking and socializing with a live band as merely a backdrop. Much needed at Lafayette’s. (Special request: Please bring back Castro Coleman, aka Mr. Sipp, the Mississippi Blues Child!)

Strait Shooter

On the letter about “Madam President” in Last Week’s “What They Said” …

We elected a black man as president because people said that this country is more than ready for a black man to lead us.

They are and were right, but should we have ONLY one candidate of that sex or color represented?

Surely there are more qualified women to run for office than someone who is under federal investigation for mishandling of classified material and who has let an embassy be sacked and the ambassador murdered and dragged through the streets.

Besides,we have already had a woman president. When Calvin Coolidge had his stroke, his vice president did not want to assume the duties, so Mrs. Coolidge sat in the president’s place and made decisions for the country.

towboatman

Towboatman,

Pssst … it was Wilson, not Coolidge who had the stroke. And if Mrs. Coolidge took over after Mrs. Wilson poisoned the president, well, we got ourselves an HBO series!

CL Mullins

About Joshua Cannon’s News Blog post “Ghost River Requests $66,455 for Tap Room, Renovations”

I love Boscos and Ghost River. Corporate (and a lot of other) welfare, not so much.

ALJS

About zoo parking …

The parking problem will not go away with the Band-Aid proposed last week. Memphis artist Roy Tamboli’s suggestion to see the parking quandary as an opportunity to innovate and enhance the park landscape has been the only solution with a flicker of ingenuity. Surely we have enough great architects and civic-minded business leaders to turn this dilemma into a show-stopping solution. Don’t leave it to the clumsily thuggish zoo PR team or the big-business-indebted zoo board and City Council. Find a Tamboli-like solution that will enhance and resonate for decades.

P.Hall

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About the Flyer editorial, “Tubman vs. Jackson: The Change Will Do Us Good” …

You could probably start a good business by withdrawing a load of the current $20 bills that you plan to turn around and sell for $25 a pop to the rednecks and racists of the world that don’t want to spend Tubman $20 bills.

GroveReb84

I dunno, my confederate dollars have gotten pretty dusty. But it’s worth a try.

Nick R.

I hope they use the photo of her smiling.

Smitty1961

About Toby Sells’ story, “Council Readies for Greensward Mediation Deadline” …

Life isn’t going back to normal for the Memphis Zoo after this. They have really pissed off people enough this time that they are going to have to actually solve the problem. Because, regardless of what the council does, there are people who are going to go after the zoo with legal action and boycotts of their donors. This isn’t going to get better if the council fails to do its job. It will get worse.

OakTree

About Sam Cicci’s story “Goal!” …

It’s a pity that no one remembers the very successful Memphis-based soccer teams: Memphis Express and Memphis Mercury. Both teams won their divisions, both played in the very competive PDL leagues, and both drew very large crowds when they played at Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

The Memphis City FC owners didn’t bother to consult with any of those former players, coaches and owners … some of whom still live here in Memphis. Food for thought!

Mark Franklin

About Jackson Baker’s story, “Can a Wild Card Trump the Opposition?” …

I was surprised to read Terry Roland’s claim that Steve Mulroy voted in 2011 to support the CCHC contract because Roland “called his priest,” who “came down in smoke” on the issue. This is not accurate.  Neither Commissioner Roland, nor anyone acting on his behalf, ever called me about that or any other issue. Steve made his decision independent of any pressure from me. And, as anyone who knows me can tell you, “coming down in smoke” is not my style. 

Fr. Jim Martell, Holy Rosary Catholic Church

About Old Navy’s ad …

I read where an ad run by Old Navy which featured an interracial family caused the company to see an explosion of racist trolls in their Twitter mentions. Old Navy was accused of promoting miscegenation, of ramming interracial marriages down people’s throats, of running a disgusting ad, and so forth. There was also calls for a boycott of Old Navy stores.

I cannot understand the hate of people who would condemn an ad that shows that love knows no color. Racism is clearly not dead, but I pray that the racists who made their hate-filled comments about a beautiful ad are from a group of citizens that is shrinking and that will one day disappear.

I will be shopping at Old Navy soon.

Philip Williams

Time for “Madam President?” …

America has had over 200 years of “Mr. President.” Isn’t it about time for “Madam President,” seeing that the population of America is 50 percent female? Let’s put biases and partisanship aside and look at what the country needs. 

First, Hillary Clinton is simply a better choice for president than Donald Trump. Clinton has experience and leadership skills developed over her years in federal and state positions. Making Trump president of the United States of America would be the same as giving him a powerful race car and saying he is competent to drive in a NASCAR contest.

This is not the time for divisive politics-as-usual; the economy is thriving, and returning to Republican supply-side economics would put a serious damper on the next four years. Not to mention, Trump would be leading the same gridlock-driven GOP legislators that have caused such havoc for the past seven years.

Chip Green

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s Viewpoint “Restless Bedfellows” …

Isn’t there some mouth-breather in the Tennessee House who can be persuaded to introduce bills to sell off TVA, rescind all divorces, and make missionary the official state coital position. Just to move things along here.

CL Mullins

CL, I think they would be against missionary being the official state position since it doesn’t work with farm animals. Also, it would depend on the denomination of the missionary. Don’t give them any ideas about TVA, though.

Jeff

The Democrats should embrace an economic message, but the Tennessee Taliban will tar Democrats with being atheist Satan-worshipping, baby-murdering homosexuals no matter what. So why not embrace the social change that the rest of the country is embracing as time goes on and the obits continue to roll for the Social Security- Medicare-receiving social conservatives?

Packrat

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Local Transgender Community Bands Together in Wake of Anti-LGBT Bills” …

What a self-defeating agenda. There is no home for LGBT people in conservative churches. You need to assist LGBT people in their exodus from those brainwashing institutions rather than playing at seeking tolerance within conservative religion. It may exist among nominal members, but it cannot exist where the Bible and traditional theology are taken seriously.

Brunetto Latini

Faith is not synonymous with the conservative social agenda. It is important for those who understand this — who are actually the majority — to be vocal in providing an alternative viewpoint when those with a political agenda try to conflate them and to point out that faith doesn’t demand archaic views.

OakTree

The current Republican transgender bathroom scare is just more of their crusade and fearmongering against gays, trying to fool an inattentive American public.

For all the anti-gay evangelicals who haven’t been out of their own bathrooms in years: Get a grip! Bathrooms have been transgender all over the world for decades. We were in Europe 30 years ago, and both sexes, all sexes, were using the same toilets. Heaven forbid! 

The latest farce by Republicans and religious extremists will blow over, just like their marriage-equality brouhaha. Then Republicans will put some other sexual taboo on the table to stir up their religious base.

Ron Lowe

About Memphis priorities …

Building bike lanes, green lines, supporting sports teams, subsidizing the zoo and other attractions, revitalizing communities, and providing tax incentives to attract new business and promote population (tax base) growth without investing in education, mass transit, and police and fire services is like trying to bail out the Mississippi River with a teaspoon.

Yes, we need job growth, but you don’t get that by pulling the plug on education and destroying our precious and limited urban green space. No one wants to raise their family in a city that doesn’t offer adequate public educational opportunity or open green space for them to play on.

How many other companies or corporations will join ServiceMaster in the search for a new headquarters before our city leaders wake up and smell the coffee? Memphis really doesn’t need to be “a great place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there” destination.  

Daniel Dixon

Last weekend, my family went to the Memphis Zoo. They saw many parking spaces in the zoo lot but were told by two zoo staff members that they had to “fill up the grass lot before putting people on the pavement lot.” It seems like the zoo is now purposely trying to put cars onto the grass, regardless of the open spots we saw in the paved lot.

Carley Hanson

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jackson Baker’s post, “State House Declines to Override Haslam Veto of the ‘Bible Bill'” …

Such a colossal waste of time and our tax dollars. If only these fools put this much energy into solving real problems.

Jamie Outlaw

A little injection of sanity and common sense never hurt anyone, including the Tennessee state legislature. Well spoken, Steve McManus, the one who really addressed the matter as it should have been addressed.

Packrat

This whole story reads like a synopsis of an old Gilligan’s Island episode.

OakTree

About Bianca Phillips’ story, “Q&A With a Fast-Food Worker on Fight for $15” …

These jobs were originally created to be for part-time teenagers, working after school and on weekends, or seniors working the morning shifts. But the economy has turned these positions into ones from which people, mostly unskilled labor, are looking to support their families. If the minimum wage goes up to $15 an hour, I’m afraid the unskilled labor force is going to be competing with people who have working experience, even possibly college degrees. And although I agree the minimum wage is woefully overdue for an upgrade, I’m afraid doubling it won’t be the optimal situation for the current workers fighting for it.

Mejjep

He wants more money for the same work, and I want to know why he thinks he deserves it. He has put himself in this situation, and it is fair for us to know why. Good intentions don’t mean squat. What I really want to know is why, with all the retraining opportunities the government provides, he is still working at an entry-level position for minimum wage.

Arlington Pop

The problem with APop’s argument is that the minimum wage has been kept artificially low by conservatives for decades. If it had kept up with wages and cost of living from its inception, it would now be something like $21/hour.

The real argument is never stated — that the minimum wage sets the bar for wages across the board. If you raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, then all those slobs who have been toiling away in warehouses and factories and flower shops and kitchens for 20 years to work their way up to $15 an hour are going to want a raise, too. And if they get raises, then they will be making more than middle management, who will want raises, too.

This is what puts the fear of Jesus into the rent collectors. Such a law would create a massive shift of wealth out of the hands of the 1 percent, undoing 30 years of hard work buying off legislators to suppress wages.

That’s why the 1 percent works so hard to elect Republicans, who invariably crash the economy built up by Democrats. However, because they are only 1 percent of the population, they had to make a Faustian bargain with the Bible bangers and Confederate holdouts in order to hold onto power. The terms of that contract are finally maturing, and Donald Mephistrumpheles has come to collect their souls.

Jeff

About Toby Sells’ post, “Shelby Farms Development Clears Another Hurdle” …

Sad and shameful. But what else should we have expected from this sorry excuse for a city council? Follow the money, every time.

Barry Roberson

Soon they will be so successful, they will have to find overflow parking somewhere, somewhere close. There has to be a golf course close by they can park on. Isn’t that what golf courses are for?

CL Mullins

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Jen Clarke’s column, “Legalized Bigotry: Tennessee Outdoes Mississippi and North Carolina” …

I doubt the sponsors of this bill have ever met a transgender person. I doubt most people have ever met a person they would call transgender. They’ve seen Bruce Jenner become Caitlyn Jenner, and since that seems bizarre to most people, along with the preferred pronouns thing, the right-wing homophobes have picked this issue as the means to oppose gay rights, which is linked by the acronym LGBT to the transgender issue.

But keep on saying that nobody with a brain thinks like an average heterosexual American. Keep on calling them bigots. Because that’s so sure to make them feel accomplished after 30 or more years of conditioning to the notion of gay rights and a handful of years of conditioning to the notion of transgender.

Brunetto Latini

I don’t think Jen said they didn’t have a brain. In fact, she is encouraging them to use it and not just be swayed by ill-informed sentiment.

Calling the sponsors of this bill bigots is simply descriptive. One of the great mysteries of the South is why we get so worked up over who is using our public bathrooms. Used to be “colored people” who couldn’t use them. Now there’s another group that Southern folks want to keep out of the stalls. Trying to fix it at the statehouse isn’t going to do anything but create a stink in there, and then the Supremes are going to sing. It’s dumb.

I’ll be the first one to stand up for the rights of my neighbors to do dumb stuff. That’s why we have the phrase, “Here, hold my beer …” But at least it should be for something entertaining.

This? It’s just sad.

OakTree

As a parent, I wonder what will happen to parents who bring their opposite-gendered young children into the bathroom with them. Will Mom be forced to send little 3-year-old Johnny all by himself into the crowded, jostling men’s john at the Tennessee/Alabama game? This bill would forbid him entering the ladies room.

Jeff

Next thing you know, our state legislators will propose a bill that if you are not a Christian, you can’t live in Tennessee. As absurd as that sounds, if things continue to go in this direction, it’s a real possibility.

Pamela Cates

I propose eliminating large public toilet areas altogether and go with multiple outhouses (nary a two seater). And what could say Tennessee better than that?

CL Mullins

About Jackson Baker’s cover story “Can a Wild Card Trump the Opposition?” …

Don’t underestimate Terry Roland. His unfortunate vocal patterns aside, he is very smart guy and a shrewd politician. I am happy to see he is working on his temper, which can get him in trouble from time to time.

Arlington Pop

Oh, the humanity.

B

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column, “(Another) New Day at the CA” …

As a veteran news reporter and former Commercial Appeal news bureau chief, I strongly support the Gannett Company’s not downsizing editor Louis Graham. The CA, to quote the Flyer‘s editor, indeed, “has improved greatly” under Graham’s editorship.

Though it has been painful to watch the transformation of daily metro newspapers across the U.S., including the CA, Graham has remained true to journalistic integrity, as well as the long-dismissed Truth in Journalism Act.

Despite seemingly never-ending layoffs of reputable staff — and downright crazy bean-counters’ ideas about how to save circulation and advertising dollars — Graham has remained a “Louisville slugger.” (He interned at the Louisville Courier-Journal.) If Gannett lets him go, there will be “no joy in Mudville.”

Fran Taylor

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Richard Cohen’s column, “Thinking Small” …

Trump and Cruz have called for Kasich to pull out. That tells me they see the same possible convention outcome. If Kasich stays in it, he could win it by default.

Jeff

I’ve often wondered if Trump was in this thing as a grand conspiracy to try to help Hillary get elected. He’s certainly helping to fracture the GOP, and if he does manage to pull enough support to get into the general, he’s nearly going to lock it up for Clinton.

GroveReb84

I was hoping for a pro-gun-control, free-college-education type like Ronald Reagan.

CL Mullins

About Jackson Baker’s story, “De-annexation Bill Killed for Session” …

Mark Norris, Brian Kelsey, and Reginald Tate are total embarrassments to Shelby County. It’s ridiculous that suburban leaders representing Shelby County in Nashville are constantly against anything that pertains to the city of Memphis. These yokels don’t realize that we are all in the same boat. Memphis not only has to fight middle and eastern Tennessee legislatures, but also those from Shelby County.

I would never vote for Mark Norris as governor. Memphis would be better off with former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.

BigTime21

I maintain that we must forge a consolidated city/county government and get beyond all this city/county hostility. We have already consolidated the schools, so let’s consolidate the rest. It would save all of us a lot of money in taxes. Running two separate governments is ridiculous. What can we do to get this on the agenda?

ZenRiddler

About Toby Sells’ post “Council Members Say Sunshine Law Not Violoated” …

Where is the independent study that shows that the Memphis Zoo contributes $90 million to the local economy? Zoo people keep quoting that, but where is that number coming from?

The city budgets over $3 million to the zoo to operate annually; the zoo collects between $650,000 to $1,000,000 in annual parking fees (to park on land owned by the city/taxpayers), and taxpayers subsidize the zoo’s utilities. So it costs the city of Memphis/taxpayers anywhere between $4 million and possibly twice that when you factor in utility subsidization annually.

There are two types of tourists: day tourists who come to the zoo and then take their tired kids home (that’s zero in additional revenue to what they spend at the zoo itself) and then those who come to Memphis and do other tourist things (Graceland, Stax, Sun, Beale Street, barbecue, etc.). The zoo isn’t the only driver of that tourism. So what is the real economic impact, and where is the proof?

On the other hand, the annual property taxes from area codes 38104 and 38112 — those immediately adjacent to the zoo — bring in over $18 million annually to the city. And these are people who live, work, eat, shop, and play in the city every day.

Why is the council chasing tourists when they should be serving the residents?

Mary Ost

I have been a neighbor and regular user of Overton Park since 1982. During that time, every part of the park — the zoo, Shell, museum, Old Forest, trails, rest rooms, playgrounds, and gardens — has been significantly improved thanks to city government, the zoo leadership and donors, the Overton Park Conservancy, volunteers, and activists who each played an important part.

Sam Cooper, the landscaped eastern approach to Overton Park, is a big improvement over blighted Broad Street 20 years ago. And on the west side, the abandoned expressway corridor is now full of new homes and families. Unless you were in Memphis in those days, you can’t imagine how different it was. It’s hard to think of another Memphis success story as satisfying and broad-based as this one.

Now a debate over parking on the grass, which is commonplace at other parks in Memphis and elsewhere, is overshadowing this and dividing Midtowners and Memphians. I’m sorry to see that.

John Branston

Was Berlin Boyd a contestant for Miss South Carolina a few years ago? If not, he does a great imitation.

Bandit109

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What They Said …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ post “Greensward Protest Caused ‘Almost Irreparable Harm'” …

A recent statement from the Memphis Zoo to the Flyer regarding last weekend’s protest on the Greensward was filled with false insinuations, half-truths, and outright lies, and I cannot let it be disseminated to the general public without responding. 

Here is a portion of the zoo’s version of what transpired last Saturday: “Many families parked blocks and blocks away because they were directed by protesters acting as zoo volunteers, only to arrive to see plenty of paved parking available but blocked by protesters. Still others were unable to visit the zoo at all.” 

Wrong on all points. 

I am a proud member of the Free Parking Brigade. I was at the corner of Galloway and McLean with my friends last Saturday, and at no point did we impersonate zoo employees. What we did was work our tails off from10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., directing cars to available parking on city streets. Most of them were from out of town, had no idea what all the fuss was about and, when told, were horrified that the zoo would park vehicles on the grass.

We must have directed over 1,000 zoo visitors to free parking, and a Memphis police officer helped them cross the busy street safely while a zoo employee stood there and took a video of us working. We probably brought in an extra $10,000 for the very zoo that seems to despise us. 

Though they did stand their ground on the Greensward, it is not true that protesters blocked any zoo patrons from using paved parking. 

The Memphis Zoo is held in such low regard at this point simply because they continue to be arrogant and obstinate, and issue false information through the media to support their claim to the Greensward.

It’s way past time to act like a responsible adult, Chuck Brady, and join thousands of other Memphians who love their park and seek to become part of the solution to this controversial issue, and not part of the problem.

Gordon Alexander

Two solutions for the zoo: It should build its own parking with the support and help of the community for funding and planning, as any other responsible community partner would. Or they can choose the path they are on: spin, pivot, and lie to avoid the inevitable. The protests will continue, and eventually people will stop coming, thus also resolving the parking problem.

I’m good with either one.

Fitz Dearmore

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if this whole zoo parking debacle turned out to be part of the conspiracy perpetrated by the old money, East Memphis land speculators and developers to diminish the livability of Memphis proper in order to continue to fuel their ill-conceived (yet so far perfectly executed) concept of “growth”? Or, more correctly, what has been spoon-fed to us as growth but in truth has resulted in nothing more than personal gain at public expense. 

You hear the argument in the news even now; it’s the underlying truth behind “de-annexation” and “tax base.” This phenomenon, this conspiracy, is precisely what has given us the precariously imbalanced city we all know and love, with so much economic power focused out East, while the vast majority of the city (geographically speaking) is an economic wasteland.

Either way, you can rest assured that the real forces behind this situation have little or nothing to do with the big bad zoo bullying a bunch of peaceniks. Ask yourself why so many politicians, people supposedly elected by you and me, are inexplicably siding with the zoo. Or why they seem not only deaf to reasonable compromise, but adamantly opposed to it? I’m not quite ready to watch it all go to hell just yet. I believe I shall take a stand.

Aaron James

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Joey Hack’s post, “Questions Raised by Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man'” …

The answer to these questions, and many more like them, is that in 1974, Prozac had only just been invented. It wasn’t until years later that it went into wide circulation.

OakTree

He should be wearing a piano key necktie in that photo. And why is Billy Joel brandishing a Telecaster, anyway?

Packrat

I love that moment when he hits that soaring final chorus in “Piano Man,” and dozens of catheters come flying onto the stage.

Mark

Who cares about all the damn metaphors in “Piano Man”? I understood what he was saying. I also remember when Billy and his small group played to a packed house at the old Lafayette’s Music Room at Overton Square in the early 1970s. I listened to it live on FM-100. Billy loved Memphis, and Memphis loved Billy. He became a superstar almost overnight after that show.

Paul Scates

About Jackson Baker’s Politics column, “Another City/Suburban Battle” …

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but did the city not determine that South Cordova was going to lose money for the city immediately after annexing it? I’ve been saying for a while that the annexation strategy is and has been failing.

If you were to do a postmortem on the annexations, I believe you’d find that even the ones that at first were profitable for the city likely are no longer profitable.

The big problem the city has is that the minute it annexes an area, property values in the area drop. So any business case the city did based on the potential tax revenue of the annexed area was wrong if they didn’t assume that the pool of funds would be reduced after annexation. Knowing how most governments operate, I doubt that kind of analysis was ever done on any of the annexations.

GroveReb84

Mark Luttrell: 26%; George Flinn: 11%; Brian Kelsey: 9%; David Kustoff: 8%; Tom Leatherwood: 7%; Steve Basar: 1%; Undecided: 38%.

Given the choice of the above, it’s easy to see why Undecided is winning.

B

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s column, “Medium Cool” …

Maybe the Flyer is too “cool” to educate themselves on Trump’s policies, but you can read them here if you can find time between comparing IPA’s: donaldjtrump.com/positions.

Clyde

Dubya was cool to a certain segment of the country — largely the same segment that loves Trump, and for many of the same reasons. The difference is that many of the people who voted for Dubya but weren’t fond of his cool trusted that his handlers would actually run the country for him. They don’t have the same trust with Trump. They know he’ll surround himself with yes-men and do whatever he damn well pleases, and that’s what scares them.

Hillary Clinton’s cool is 10th-grade math teacher cool — the teacher everybody hates after the first day of class, but toward the end of the year decide she’s all right, and by the time they graduate, remember her quite fondly as one of the best teachers they ever had.

Jeff

Bruce, you’ve gone too far. How dare you insult the noble brotherhood of “Siding Salesmen.”

I prefer to think of Trump as more like the guy who owns a bunch of sleazy and failed businesses and has the audacity to show up uninvited to the party, referring to himself as a “Business Genius, and VERY, very rich to boot.”

Oh … Wait a minute. Never mind.

So maybe we can just call him what he is: the turd in the punch bowl of the 2016 election year. And that’s not cool.

John Shouse

I dunno, I have sat in a bar with John Kerry and voted for him anyway.

CL Mullins